The best Handy alternatives
3 tools that do a similar job to Handy, 3 of them open source. Each entry says what it does and who it suits, so you can pick the one that fits instead of the most famous.
You're replacing
HandyFree, open source desktop app that turns your speech into text on your own computer, offline.
- 1
whisper.cpp
Open source · MIT · ★ 54.9k
Fast C/C++ port of OpenAI's Whisper speech-to-text model, runs locally on CPU or GPU.
Best for: Developers who want to embed offline speech-to-text in a C, C++, or other native app; People on Apple Silicon who want GPU or Neural Engine accelerated transcription
- 2
Buzz
Open source · MIT · ★ 22.4k
Offline audio and video transcription and translation app for your own computer, built on Whisper.
Best for: People who want to transcribe recordings without uploading them to an online service; Creators who need SRT or VTT subtitle files or TXT transcripts
- 3
OpenWhispr
Open source · MIT · ★ 10.5k
Desktop app that turns your speech into text at the cursor, with local or cloud models.
Best for: People who want dictation in any app without sending audio to a cloud service; Users who want to bring their own OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, or Groq API keys
How we pick: tools in the same category that solve the same problem, projects that name each other as alternatives, and open-source projects that describe themselves as an alternative to Handy. We don't take payment for placement.